Seattle Transit Blog

BY SEATTLE SUBWAY As regional stakeholders continue to work on the inevitable push and pull of budgeting for a massive transit expansion, we want to make sure that a huge improvement to the Sound Transit 3 (ST3) system plan isn’t overlooked: designation of “provisional projects.” Adding provisional projects will cost next to nothing to implement […]

Last week, the US Census Bureau released 2015 population estimates by city. To nobody’s surprise, Seattle continues to grow rapidly, having added 15,300 more residents in the year ending June 2015. Seattle has grown by 74,000 residents (12.1%) in just five years. Seattle, for the third year in a row, is among the five fastest […]

Last December I made the modest proposal that the 5th and Madison Station in Sound Transit 3 move three, or even six, blocks east. This would reduce overlap with the existing tunnel stations. More importantly, it would bring First Hill — one of the densest neighborhoods in the Northwest, with three hospitals and Seattle University […]

The first part of New York City’s long awaited Second Avenue Subway, 2 miles and 3 new stations, is expected to open this December.

Yesterday, Sound Transit released its latest figures on ULink, including daily ridership for April. Weekday ridership is holding at roughly 60,000 per day, and two Fridays in April (8th and 29th) set new records at 82,000 weekday riders: In April we reported early ridership trends on Link light rail were beating expectations after opening two new stations […]

One of the ironies of land use policy around here is, relative to Seattle, suburban jurisdictions have often been willing to upzone more aggressively in advance of light rail’s arrival. Kent and Des Moines, for instance, jointly up zoned the Midway area for up to 200′, while nothing at Capitol Hill Station will exceed 7 stories […]

It’s been well over two months since our last listener mailbag. If there’s a question you’d like Frank and me to answer, put it in the comments and we’ll get to as many as we can. The podcast should air sometime next week.

There is a certain type of anti-transit writer whose perspective can be summarized as: “For every agency proposal n, the agency should instead do n-1.” When rail proposals are on the table, such writers often make substantive and seemingly pro-transit arguments for bus rapid transit (BRT) as a superior alternative for less capital cost. When BRT proposals are advanced, their arguments […]

Last week we wrote about technical problems delaying analysis of the First Hill Streetcar’s ridership. With the Automatic Passenger Counters (APCs) data transmission process broken, SDOT staff had noted that March ORCA data showed 50,000 boardings, or roughly 1,600 per day (though higher on weekdays and lower on weekends, of course). Yesterday SDOT’s Norm Mah […]

Gubernatorial candidate Bill Bryant (still!) opposes light rail on I-90, thinks WSDOT is too focused on transit (!). Kirkland leaders present their updated vision for ST3 and beyond. Sumner Sounder garage close to final approval. Mercer Island, building its case for least environmentally conscious city in the region, considers downzoning ($) around its light rail station. Seattle […]

Beginning next Monday, May 23, the Yesler Way bridge over 4th avenue will close for up to 16 months for a $20 million structural and seismic renovation, funded jointly by Move Seattle’s predecessor (Bridging the Gap) and by a Federal Highway Administration “Historic Bridge Replacement” grant. The 1910 y-shaped steel structure is Seattle’s oldest bridge, covering […]

The King County Council unanimously approved Metro’s September service change at its meeting Monday afternoon. Public testimony is from 36:17-51:35 of the video. Debate and action on the item is at 1:07-1:10 in the video. A line-up of eight speakers from various Asian immigrant communities testified in favor of proposed route 106, which creates a […]

BY FEET FIRST, TRANSPORTATION CHOICES COALITION, AND CASCADE BICYCLE CLUB Together, we believe that a waterfront rebuilt post­viaduct is an opportunity to shape the city into a more sustainable, safe, vibrant, accessible, and connected destination for people of all ages and abilities. While we stand by our original comments on the previously published DEIS, we […]

On May 5 at Sound Transit’s Executive Committee, Sound Transit Staff presented initial results of the ST3 Draft Plan public comment period that ended on May 2, and EMC Research presented the results of a separate region wide phone poll. After a Friday the 13th weekend, here are 13 takeaways from that presentation. #1: Huge Overall Response […]

a fascinating documentary from 50 years ago about the engineering and development of BART. They literally reinvented the wheel.

In a win for efficiency, operational speed, and regulatory simplicity, beginning today all Rapid Ride lines will allow 24/7 all-door boarding. Until today, the lines have reverted from proof-of-payment to traditional front door boarding after 7pm, causing unnecessary complexity and confusion for riders. The change comes after Metro management polled operators about the proposal, with […]

At Thursday’s meeting of Sound Transit’s Capital Committee, staff updated boardmembers on both the latest concepts for expediting ST3 project delivery and modifications to the ST3 financial plan. It was an excellent and substantive conversation, and we’ll post video when it becomes available. CEO Peter Rogoff’s presentation on project delivery was a particularly good primer on […]

Back in December we reported that the Office of the Waterfront would undertake a Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement (SDEIS) to study removal of the planned bus lanes on the future Alaskan Way. There was some confusion at the time because no organized groups were agitating for such an outcome, and that all parties had generally […]

Parking in ST3 (4:50) HOV3 Lanes (28:00) Kirkland light rail (34:55) Paine spur (41:15) SE Seattle restructure (43:20) Overnight Link bus (56:00) Metro’s long-range plan (1:02:10) http://traffic.libsyn.com/seattletransitblog/STB_podcast_016.mp3 As always, you can subscribe in iTunes. Also, if you like the show, leave us a review.

Everett contemplates redeveloping the Everett Station area. Pierce Transit’s public feedback form is a service planning game. Subjecting fewer projects to design review would be a huge improvement. The next iteration of ORCA sounds cool, but won’t arrive earlier than 2019. A review of the new Seattle 2035 draft. Closing the viaduct wasn’t a disaster, […]

The Center City Connector project took another step forward with the recent publication of its Environmental Assessment (EA) documentation. A 30-day public comment period began Monday, with emailed comment accepted at centercitystreetcar@seattle.gov The EA process is a slimmed down version of the more familiar Environmental Impact Statement. Agencies proposing projects unlikely to have significant impacts may opt […]

While ULink is already setting ridership records, it’s easy for this North Capitol Hill resident to forget about the First Hill Streetcar, the beleaguered line that opened in late January after a series of delays and technical problems. Curious about the line’s ridership both before and after ULink, I asked SDOT for ridership data a couple weeks […]

Last summer we held our first fundraising drive, and I honestly had no idea what to expect. But many of you stepped up, and thanks to your support we were able to hire our first reporter. In the last year, I think Zach and the rest of the volunteer staff have done a fantastic job […]

County Councilmembers Joe McDermott and Larry Gossett kindly offered some reasons for supporting more bus service in southeast Seattle last Thursday. STB supports adding more service in southeast Seattle that delivers real improvements to riders, which means avoiding wasteful duplication. The councilmembers’ arguments failed to explain why these specific route restructures (in particular, the extension of route […]

It’s no subway, but Los Angeles once again has a train through the Westside to its world-famous beaches. The Metro Expo Line Phase II opens May 20. It’s been an exciting Spring for new rail openings this year.

After decades of deferred maintenance and neglect that has led to crashes, fires, and in some cases killing its own riders, the DC Metro will soon rip off the band aid with a year of painful closures and single-track operations affecting hundreds of thousands of riders. View the full closure details here. The intensive work will replace infrastructure […]

Expanded Seattle Housing Levy to go to voters in August. Is the YIMBY movement headed to Seattle? Q13 tackles transit etiquette. Proposed rezones in Lake City. As Jane Jacobs’ 100th birthday passes, she has two legacies: grassroots resistance to professional urban planners, and dense, walkable urban neighborhoods. Unfortunately the former is today mostly used to prevent […]

One criticism of stringing light rail lines along freeways is that one could achieve similar transit outcomes at vastly lower cost, by simply taking a freeway lane for transit. Failing that, adjusting HOV lane thresholds so that speeds remain high would achieve much of the benefit of entirely new right-of-way, except when an incident or […]

By King County Councilmembers Joe McDermott and Larry Gossett King County aims to deliver public transportation that grows access to jobs and education. Transit transforms communities and economies, helps address inequity, and plays a role in mitigating displacement. As STB has covered, the County Council is currently considering multiple changes to the bus network which […]

Today is the last day to fill in Metro’s Late Night Transit Service Survey if you haven’t already. It takes only a few minutes. Notably absent from the list of routes in the survey, which includes the streetcars and other ST buses, is Link light rail, despite a public petition calling for expanded service hours. […]

The following ST3 comment letter (PDF) was submitted by a coalition of 10 local progressive nonprofits. Dear Sound Transit Board Members, Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the Sound Transit 3 (ST3) system plan and policies. The Transit Access Stakeholder group is a growing coalition of organizations that strongly supports connecting the Puget […]

This morning the King County Council’s Transportation, Economy, and Environment (TrEE) Committee unanimously passed an amended SE Seattle restructure for the September 10 service change. The restructure will now head before the full council later this month, where all signs point to its easy passage. As we’ve reported previously, if passed by the full committee […]

Sound Transit 3 is likely to spend nontrivial amounts of money on parking. The argument against agency-built parking is that it is among the least cost-efficient ways to spend money getting people to a station or bus stop. Furthermore, the land used for parking would best be used for dense development, which is revenue-positive. It creates ways for […]

Late last week Metro released initial ridership data for the newly-split Rapid Ride C and D lines. Though ridership had already been seeing Link-like growth rates hovering around 10%, Metro says that in the month since ULink opened and the restructure split the lines and added 50,000 new service hours, C-Line ridership is up a […]

A sinkhole has opened up just South of the Roosevelt Light Rail station on Sunday evening. According to a release from Sound Transit: Crews for Sound Transit’s Northgate Link light rail construction contractor are taking steps to fill a small sinkhole that emerged in front of a home on 12th Avenue Northeast near 62nd Street […]

A General Electric promotional film touting the benefits of rapid transit featuring scenes from various cities including Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, New York, and Toronto, with a look ahead to San Francisco’s rapid transit project now known as BART.

This past Monday, Zach introduced STB riders to Metro’s new Long Range Plan. The plan sets forth an ambitious series of large-scale goals for Metro. Most prominently, it brings truly frequent service (15 minutes or better, daytime and early evenings) within a 10-minute walk of 70 percent of King County residents. While the plan is considerably […]

SDOT “four to five years away” (!) from really getting started at Mt. Baker Station. Embrace the changes ($) coming to the U-District. Commercial flights coming to Paine Field in 2017? What are Scott Kubly’s prospects? Seattle applies for federal grant ($) for Lander St. overpass. Cascade Bicycle Club wants more ST3 funds for bike […]

Seattle Subway encourages all supporters of great transit in the Puget Sound region to include the following key points in their feedback to the Sound Transit board. Please email the board with your comments, as they are now due by Monday, May 2. Dear Sound Transit Board Members, Seattle Subway thanks the board for proposing […]

This morning and afternoon we’ll be at Union Station for Downtown Seattle’s only ST3 meeting, followed by the Sound Transit Board. We’ll be tweeting at @seatransitblog, and the feed will be embedded here. Follow along from 11:30am-4:00pm! Tweets by @SeaTransitBlog

On Monday night, Sound Transit held an open house at Everett Station regarding its plans for Snohomish County in ST3, mainly focusing on the light rail extension from Lynnwood to Everett via Paine Field. Over the last month, much had been said over the disapproval of county residents and politicians over the proposed 2041 delivery date for light rail […]

When Sound Transit released studies of I-405 BRT in December, many observers were surprised to observe the “intensive-capital” option produced no more ridership than the minimalist “low-capital” alternative despite a gap of up to $2 billion in capital investments. While some questioned the results, it greatly complicated the case for making a large investment in I-405. The […]

Several independent sources have confirmed that the city and Metro have come to agreement on an expanded restructure of Metro bus service in SE Seattle for the September service change. The city had balked at partially funding the initial restructure on policy grounds, with disagreements largely centering on the merits of extending MLK bus service to the International […]

Martin and Frank discuss competing criteria for evaluating transit projects, the viability of Paine Field, ReachNow’s launch, and the case for 130th Street station. http://traffic.libsyn.com/seattletransitblog/STB_podcast_015.mp3 As always, you can subscribe in iTunes. Also, if you like the show, leave us a review.

SEATTLE SUBWAY The West Seattle light rail line proposed by Sound Transit as part of the draft ST3 package will revolutionize transit on the peninsula. The proposed alignment in West Seattle is excellent, with the highest possible reliability due to a fixed 140’ bridge over the Duwamish River and no traffic crossings in SoDo or […]

SEATTLE SUBWAY Light Rail to Everett will provide a fast and reliable transportation option in a corridor where congestion is currently getting worse to the tune of a minute every three months. Business and political leaders in Everett have long favored a detour to Paine Field over a more direct line to Everett, in order […]

On an overcast Friday afternoon at a gravel lot in downtown Bellevue, Sound Transit broke ground on the East Link light rail extension, bringing rail transit from Seattle to Overlake via Bellevue one step closer to realization. The ceremony, attended by Sound Transit Board Chair and King County Executive Dow Constantine, U.S. Senator Patty Murray, current Sound […]

For the first time since the merger of Metro and King County in 1992, Metro released a draft of a new Long Range Plan (LRP) last Monday, and it will update the plan every 6 years from now on. The plan looks at two time horizons, 2025 (when ST2 will have come online), and 2040 (when […]